09/06/2026
Good Morning, friends! ☀️ A blessed Sunday and Labor Day weekend to you. A reminder that our Parish Office will be closed tomorrow and Masses will be on a later schedule: 7:20AM & 8:30AM. Today we celebrate the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
This week, our readings focus on lovingly correcting others, as well as surrounding ourselves with people who will do the same for us when we fall. The Prophet Ezekiel was appointed by God to be a “watchman” for Israel in a spiritual sense. His job was to correct people when they were doing wrong. If the watchman saw them turning their backs on God and failed to correct them, he was responsible. If they didn’t listen to the warning, that was their own burden to bear. This doesn’t mean Ezekiel was being judgmental, he was following through on being faithful in the responsibility given to him by God. He was to help them turn back to God. We are called to be watchman. We are called to help everyone to heaven, even if it means difficult conversations.
Saint Paul tells us in our second reading that our motivation for correcting others must be love. The Gospel then explains how to do it. We don’t do this to condemn others, but with humility and the desire to have them leave their life of sin behind and turn to God. This also calls us to see who we personally surround ourselves with. Do we have someone, or a group of people, that we are close with that would humbly and gently call us out when we start drifting from God? And would we be willing to accept that this person(s) want what is best for me?
Our prayer this week could be what the psalmist writes:
Lord, harden not my heart. Let it be open to following and listen to you when you speak. Help me to bring others to you in a loving and gentle way and to always speak the truth to others, even when it may be difficult. Make me, a sinner, be open to reforming myself to be a better Christian and seeing that your way is better than my own.
Amen.
Have a peaceful week ahead. 🌻🌾
